Parliament official says State Security Service “actively” investigating alleged plans for assassination of ruling party founder

Davit Matikashvili, an MP from the ruling Georgian Dream party and the First Deputy Chair of the Georgian Parliament’s Committee on Legal Issues, on Monday said the State Security Service was “actively” investigating alleged plans for assassination of Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder and Honorary Chair of the ruling party.

The Service last week said it was investigating plans for assassination of Ivanishvili and conspiracy to overthrow the country’s Government, “organised and funded” by high-ranking officials of the former Government and former employees of law enforcement agencies currently found in Ukraine.

Matikashvili said the investigation would let the public “know what kind of anti-Georgian, anti-state, violent forces they are dealing with” among the domestic opposition.

We are deeply convinced that despite the efforts of the opposition [and] their controlled TV stations to suppress this issue, not to make it relevant, the investigation will definitely produce its results, and the public will know what kind of anti-Georgian, anti-state, violent forces they are dealing with when we talk about the opposition”, he claimed.

In his comments on the investigation, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze claimed the alleged plan was “not surprising” given Ivanishvili’s “influence” on domestic politics.